A habit that spreads in restaurants costs restaurateurs dearly and forces them to make drastic decisions.
“We talk a lot about it between restaurateurs”, already observed last summer Justine Passerini, a restaurateur from the 12th arrondissement of Paris, with Release. “There is something that has changed in the last two or three years: the fact that online reservations have become almost the majority, it anonymizes things a bit.”
Some restaurateurs, rather starred establishments or those recommended by a gastronomic guide, have gradually moved on tobank imprintwhich consists of entering your credit card number on a secure platform and being charged an amount determined in advance, or prepayment, to pay for part of their meal in advance. The practice is spreading month by month as summer approaches, a key period for restaurateurs who have chosen to take the lead.
The reason for this outcry? These customers who reserve a table, and simply do not show up. The practice, known as “no show” in English, has become the obsession of restorers. Faced with these unscrupulous customers, the restaurateur is no longer satisfied with the gentle way which until now consisted of confirming the reservation by telephone, email or SMS.
Asking the restaurateur a rabbit can now cost you dearly and the “liver attack excuse” no longer works!
All means are good to prevent breakage: some restaurateurs limit the hours and days of online reservations, or establish a limit of covers. Others go even further: for example, the bosses of The Cure Gourmandea restaurant in Coren in the Cantal, entrusted to The mountain that they were now charging for empty chairs for each cover reserved and not honored and asking for a deposit for large tables.
At the end of May 2023, a restaurant in Le Havre, L’Anecdote, did not hesitate to post on social networks the name of the client who had reserved for a large group with requests for the location and the schedule before him. ask a rabbit… The last straw for this restaurant which has now decided to impose a deposit for all group reservations, as confirmed at Paris-Normandy.
Justine Passerini, restaurateur from the 12th arrondissement of Paris, also took the plunge before the multiplication of empty tables without cancellation or appeal. “It’s a shame but if you can afford to dine with us, where the average ticket is 75 euros, I don’t think it’s crazy that you pay 20 euros if you don’t come and you don’t warn ahead of time. Me, on two covers, I would have lost 150 euros. When people call me the day before or in the afternoon, I don’t take anything. But if you don’t feel well, you don’t book, you wait to find out if you’re better. It’s still crazy all these people who suddenly have a liver attack at 7 p.m., an hour before their reservation…”